Month: July 2010

Details on DDR for Exercise

Mats: I have tried and worn out plastic mats from DDR as well as other companies. My first DDR mat six years lasted two months, but they greatly improved the quality shortly thereafter as the next mat lasted 1 1/2 years.

Then I purchased one from a local game store.

It was handy because the one mat could be used with three different game systems (X-Box, Playstation & the Wii) but it is the one I like to use least because it is not accurate in responding to your steps on the screen ~ making it look like I was missing more steps than I thought I was… VERY frustrating! I have also tried the metal base pads from DDR. That also lasted me 1 1/2 years, but the newest pads with the rubber (no-slip) backing are by far my favorites. Long lasting, accurate from foot to the screen and comfortable with socks or bare feet.

Whole Body Workout:

DDR done regularly, progressively increasing the difficulty (as long as your diet contains little sugar or white flour or fried foods!) really helps shape and tone the body. I found, when my diet was decent and I included fiber, that even after 40 my shape was close to that of the girls on the cover. In addition to DDR, the only exercises I added were lunges (20-30 2X/week), sit-ups 30 2X/week (but with a focus on pulling in my stomach and using my ab muscles not only while exercising, but as I thought about it during the day.) and occasional arm exercises (push ups, light weights, or the arm mode on DDR in the Wii).

The mind:

A critical component of any program is your mindset. Research shows that what you believe and the input that your mind receives can impact you greatly. To minimize that impact, I choose songs with positive lyrics, turn the mode on DDR to remove the background voice (encouraging if you are doing well, but discouraging to a beginner with his occasional insults) and change the movie mode so that what plays on the screen is your Wii dancing ~ not the MTV video.
Now wii has Just Dance 3 – my favorite exercise program of all time!

5 yr Systematic Literature Review of all relevant types of research, differing in the quantity and quality of evidence.
“Each Change has a Double Effect
“For curtailing weight gain, which in turn will curtail cancer risk, the report advocates increased physical activity and a diet based on low-energy-dense foods such as vegetables, fruits and beans. In addition, it points out that increased physical activity reduces cancer risk directly by lowering hormone levels. A diet featuring plant foods also reduces risk directly by supplying plant compounds the body needs to prevent or repair cell damage. So, getting more active and eating wisely carries a double whammy when it comes to knocking out cancer.”
Cancer does not live well in an environment filled with oxygen. The best way to force oxygen into every cell of our body is to work our way up to consistent aerobic exercise. Have you ever exercised hard one day and felt the deep breaths you were compelled to consume for the rest of the day?! Regular, aerobic exercise appears to be the first and most important change we can make to have a better and longer life.
“The AICR report also raised hackles by consolidating the evidence showing that reducing consumption of alcohol and red meat—particularly processed meat—are important strategies for reducing cancer risk. Although the report does not recommend eliminating either completely, it does call for reducing the amounts Americans ordinarily consume.”
“From the point of view of cancer prevention, the best level of alcohol consumption is zero.” He also stated that for cardiovascular disease, one or two drinks daily may be protective ~ look into the research and see what we find!
“It provides a solid evidence base for policy-makers, health professionals and informed and interested people to draw on and work with.”
“To the extent that environmental factors such as food, nutrition, and physical activity influence the risk of cancer, it is a preventable disease.”

“Evidence shows that only a small proportion of cancers are inherited. Environmental factors are most important and can be modified. These include:
~smoking
~infectious agents [vaccinations?!]
~radiation
~industrial chemicals and pollution
~medication
~food
~nutrition
~physical activity
~body composition”
~genetics1
“That cancer is, in large part, a preventable disease” was the conclusion of a report on diet and the prevention of cancer published more than twenty five years before this report.2
Since the early 1980’s, research and experts have agreed that food and nutrition, physical activity, drugs and body composition are individually and collectively important modifiers of the risk of cancer and taken together may be at least as important as tobacco. Why is this not promoted more?! Somehow we know it has some effect, but not to this degree!
“When combined with not smoking and regular exercise, this kind of healthy diet can reduce heart disease by 80%. and stroke and some cancers by 70%, compared with average rates”3

“No single study or study type can prove that any factor definitely is a cause of, or is protective against, any disease…reliable judgments on causation of disease are based on assessment of a variety of well-designed epidemiological and experimental studies…These introductory chapters show that the challenge can be effectively addressed and suggest that food, nutrition, physical activity, and body composition play a central part in the prevention of cancer.”4
“The Panel agrees, as evident in Chapters 10 &amp; 12 that many chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes and its precursors, cardiovascular diseases and their precursors, and also perhaps other diseases of the digestive, musculoskeletal, and nervous systems, are to a large extent caused by environmental factors, including inappropriate food and nutrition, physical inactivity, overweight and obesity and associated factors. Following from this, future reports should consider the promotion of health and the prevention of disease as a whole.”5
Food &amp; Nutrition and lifestyle choices are now considered, “environmental factors”?!
“The panel is aware that as with other diseases, the risk of cancer is also modified by social, cultural, economic, and ecological factors [What about how one thinks?! Segway into Ron’s father and how his loss and subsequent sadness contributed to his demise.] Thus …identifying the deeper factors that affect cancer risk enables a wider range of policy recommendations and options to be identified. This is the subject of a separate report to be published in late 2008.
“The public health goals and personal recommendations of the Panel that follow are offered as a significant contribution towards the prevention and control of cancer throughout the world.”

Four AICR Recommendations:

“Recommendation 1.)
Be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight”
“Justification:
Maintenance of a healthy weight throughout life may be one of the most important ways to protect against cancer. This will also protect against a number of other common chronic diseases.”

Recommendation 2.)
Be physically active as part of everyday life
(equivalent to brisk walking for at least 30 minutes each day increasing to 60min of moderate or 30 minutes of vigorous physical activity every day)
Justification:
Most populations, and people living in industrialized and urban settings, have habitual levels of activity below levels to which humans are adapted.

Recommendation 3.) Avoid sugary drinks and consume fast foods sparingly, if at all

Get Slim, Prevent Cancer, and Elevate your Mood!

Close to six years ago I began to feel funny ~ as though I could feel the blood running through my veins. It was very uncomfortable and I found out I had High Blood Pressure. Now I don’t believe in taking drugs, so my options were limited. It led me to a great discovery! Something that prevents Cancer and other common diseases, elevates my mood, keeps me slim and energetic ~ yes, you guessed it… Exercise!

Over the years I had always done some exercise, but never consistently, three + times per week. Now I was determined, but it had to be fun… I found Dance, Dance, Revolution (DDR). It is fun, you can increase the intensity gradually and DDR is always putting together new games to keep it interesting! Originally we purchased an X-Box just for the purpose of my exercising 15 minutes every morning. Now we have the version for the wii ~ I highly recommend it 🙂

OK., now if you want the research behind the outrageous claims above, check out the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) study of 20 years of research. They determined the top 10 things you can do to prevent cancer. The most amazing part of what they found is that 9/10 things are totally within your control! See more AICR Recommendations to Prevent Cancer by clicking on PREVENT CANCER.

Pay Dirt by J.I. Rodale is an amazing book because it helped me to make the quantum leap to thinking about gardening in terms of how healthy I can make the soil. Traditional gardeners and farmers think about how to increase N-P-K values to raise better crops. A beginner in organic gardening thinks in terms of N-P-K in the addition of bat guano – bone meal – ash. Pay Dirt helped me to grasp that the quantity of these elements is not as important if the soil is truly healthy. Creating compost from a variety of materials can provide the microorganisms and “biologic life” that is what makes the percentage of uptake of nutrients in the plant so much greater ~ even when less N-P-K is measurable. Could it be that, just like in the soil, the beneficial bacteria or biologic life in our bodies plays a larger role in our level of health than previously believed?!